New systems helping law enforcement find video footage

NORTON, Kan. (KSNW) — The Norton Police Department has upgraded to a system that includes new body cameras and new software to exchange videos.

The software allows citizens to register their cameras, and police can see who has security cameras on a map.

“Let’s say you have an incident in your neighborhood,” Chief Jay Sharp said. “We pull up a map, we look at all the blue dots in the area and say, well, she has one at her house, let’s click on it. And it allows us to send you a link directly and say, hey, I’m looking for video on this date and time. Could you check your system that you have it? You can just use the code and send it directly to us, we wouldn’t have to come to your house.” 

Norton citizens can scan a QR code, and they will be prompted with questions such as where they live, where their cameras are, etc.

“It eliminates the need for us to basically drive around the area looking at everybody’s house, knock everybody’s door saying hey, you have cameras. We can tell immediately whether or not you have one, and instead of us walking around spending time during that allows us to go directly to you,” Chief Sharp said.

Police cannot access the cameras and only see a dot on a map to determine who to contact. Sharp says this makes gathering evidence more efficient.

“During that time, obviously, there is a possibility of evidence being lost forever, but there’s also a possibility of further violence, further harm,” Chief Sharp said. “Time is critical when it comes to something like that.”

The new body cameras fit inside officers’ vests so they don’t get knocked off.

“There’s a level of transparency that has never been called or desired like it is now,” Chief Sharp said. “And I think we owe that as well.”

Chief Sharp says he has seen cameras evolve over his time.

“They are getting much clearer and much better, more sophisticated,” Chief Sharp said. “They have gotten so much better, and there’s just so much more evidence. It just simply, there’s more of it, and it’s better because what I have seen, it’s grown exponentially.”

He says it’s more common to find a video than not find a video, which hasn’t always been the case.

Chief Sharp encourages people to embrace changing technology.

“I would encourage folks to protect themselves,” Chief Sharp said. “To try to learn technology and embrace it. It is something that I have found in my life when you resist technology or new things, you’re only hindering yourself a lot of times. Sometimes learning about these things and learning about the unknown and embracing them can actually have really good benefits for you. So I recommend people protect themselves. You have these cameras, they are getting very inexpensive. They’re very easy to operate a lot of times. A simple Wi-Fi signal can do that.”

Overall, he says he has seen the number of cameras explode. Lt. Aaron Moses with the Wichita Police Department agrees.

“Certainly, over time, we have seen the access to high-quality surveillance systems become more accessible to the general public,” Lt. Moses said. “Costs have come down, and there are more options. So we’ve seen people investing in that technology in their homes and their businesses.”

More cameras means more evidence.

“That works two ways,” Lt. Moses said. “It allows us to have more evidence to help solve a case. It also provides more information that our detectives have to go through on each case. At the patrol level at the field level, we have more immediate access to this information, so we’re not having to download DVRs, we’re not having to have people remember their passwords to download DVRs. Generally, with these surveillance systems, especially the ones that are cloud-based, people have access to that information right there on their phone when we’re out investigating a crime, even if it’s 2 a.m.”

In Wichita, they use Axon Citizen, which allows residents to upload videos.

“Officers on the street are still looking at residences, seeing if there are surveillance cameras and contacting those residents. Detectives will go out the next day in daylight to see if they see cameras that perhaps were missed. Our investigators can send a link to a citizen who can then upload their video evidence from their home. They don’t have to come in and meet with the detective. They can do it from wherever they’re at, upload that evidence to our evidence management systems. We rely heavily on Axon Citizen, which is where they will contact a citizen who says I have video. They will send that person a link either to their email or to their cell phone, and then, they can upload that video directly to our system.”

Chief Sharp says cameras solved a recent violent crime in Norton. Lt. Moses says he has seen the same outcome.

Lt. Moses says they are continually reviewing best practices regarding video surveillance.